How to Clean Refrigerator Coils and Why You Need to Do It Today

There’s more to cleaning a refrigerator than just throwing out 2-week-old potato salad. To keep your fridge running cold without gobbling up tons of electricity, you need to also know how to clean the refrigerator coils—those long tubes snaking along the bottom or back of your fridge. It’s more important than you might think.

How a refrigerator works

To understand how a refrigerator works—and why you should clean those coils, pronto—you must know the second law of thermodynamics. Namely: When two things of different temperatures are near each other, the hotter surface cools and the colder surface warms.

That transfer of heat is the principle behind refrigeration, where a motor and pump push a gas refrigerant (freon in old fridges, tetrafluoroethane in newer models) through coils, where it cools down and becomes a liquid, soaking up heat in the fridge and freezer, and cooling everything inside.

When coils are dirty with dust or pet hair, the refrigeration process is hindered, which can prevent the appliance from cooling properly and efficiently.

“You’re asking your refrigerator to work harder than it’s designed to,” says Jill Notini, vice president of communications and marketing for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, in Washington, DC. Soon, food spoils, energy bills for running your fridge can rise up to 35%, and the appliance that should last for 12 to 14 years breaks down early.

So unless you’re dying for an excuse to buy a new fridge, here’s how to clean refrigerator coils to lengthen the life of your fridge and lower your electric bill to boot.

How to clean coils

To keep your refrigerator humming, you should clean coils every six months to a year, more often if you have shedding pets. It’s a short and easy task, and definitely one you shouldn’t avoid.

“Refrigerators are very low-maintenance overall,” says Notini, who recommends adding coil cleaning to your list of spring-cleaning chores. Here’s the process:

1. Locate the coils, which live either at the bottom of the appliance or in back of it. Older models have exposed coils mounted on the back of the refrigerator. Newer models place the coils at the bottom behind a toe space panel (like the model below) or at the back behind a rear access panel.

1. After you expose the coils, vacuum them with a crevice or upholstery tool to remove the biggest debris. Suck up dirt on, above, and below the coils. While you’re at it, vacuum the floor under and behind the fridge, too.

2. Shove a duster or refrigerator coil brush (about $5 and designed for this exact purpose) between the coils, and clean the rest of the dust, hair, and dirt still clinging to the coils. Position your vacuum under the brush to catch falling debris.

3. Replace the panel and you’re done—and can look forward to plenty of perfectly cooled groceries in your future.

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